Institutional

Towards age-friendly work in Europe: a life-course perspective on work and ageing from EU Agencies

This report highlights various challenges associated with an ageing workforce and considers innovative solutions. Coordinated by EU-OSHA in cooperation with Cedefop, EIGE and Eurofound, each EU agency focuses on a different aspect of demographic change and its implications for employment, working conditions and workers’ health and education.

It primarily examines working conditions, presents policy examples for the safety and health of an ageing workforce, provides a gender perspective and explores how vocational training and life-long learning can support active ageing at work.

Positive Ageing National Indicator report

Ireland's first Positive Ageing National Indicator report presents findings on what matters for older people in terms of participation, health and security. 56 National Positive Ageing indicators offer a benchmark which will allow to measure progress and challenges that lie ahead, including on combating ageism and increasing access to information.

The report is one of the results of Ireland's National Positive Ageing Strategy which highlights that ageing is not just a health issue, and that we need a collaborative response to address a range of social, economic and environmental factors that affect the health and wellbeing of our ageing citizens. For more information, click here

WHO International Day of Older Persons

The International Day of Older Persons, celebrated on 1 October, highlighted the important contributions that older people make to society and raised awareness of the issues and challenges of ageing in today's world. The theme for 2016, Take a Stand Against Ageism, urged everyone to consider ageism and the detrimental impact it has on older people.

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) - Analysis report of workplace good practices and support needs of enterprises

This report investigates workplace practices implemented by 36 companies — of varying sizes and across different sectors — to address the challenges of an ageing workforce. It looks at how to either keep older employees in work for longer or improve the health and wellbeing of all employees, regardless of age. The motivations and drivers behind the policies and practices are discussed, as are the success factors of implementation and the challenges associated with it. The case studies also highlight that small and micro companies are facing particular difficulties in implementing such practices. The report gives suggestions of the type of support that would help companies and makes recommendations for future action.

PAHO/WHO - Healthy Ageing: Raising Awareness of Inequalities, Determinants, and What Could Be Done to Improve Health Equity

Based on data from 194 countries, the authors highlight differences in older adults’ health, considering multilevel factors, policies and new research areas. To obtain this report click here.

WHO - World report on ageing and health (2015)

Comprehensive public health action on population ageing is urgently needed. This will require fundamental shifts, not just in the things we do, but in how we think about ageing itself. The World report on ageing and health outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new concept of functional ability. Making these investments will have valuable social and economic returns, both in terms of health and wellbeing of older people and in enabling their on-going participation in society.

The 2015 Ageing Report: Economic and budgetary projections for the 28 EU Member States (2013-2060)

The 2015 Ageing Report sheds light on the economic, budgetary and societal challenges that policy makers will have to face in the future as a result of these trends. The report’s long-term projections provide an indication of the timing and scale of challenges that can be expected so as to inform European policy makers about the scale and timing of the challenges they must face.

Active Ageing Index releases its 2014 analytical report

Using the right tool to adequately monitor the impact of a wide range of policies is necessary to manage population ageing. This is the purpose of the Active Ageing Index (AAI) - released by AGE Platform - which measures the extent to which older people can realise their full potential in terms of employment, participation in social and cultural life and independent living, as well as the extent to which the environment they live in enables seniors to lead an active life.

The European Commission has released this new report providing a description of underlying macroeconomic assumptions and methodologies of the age-related expenditure projections for all Member States; covering pensions, health care, long-term care, education and unemployment benefits.

European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) - Report: Increasing the value of age in employment

A new Cedefop report draws attention to the mutual benefits to workers and organisations that arise when guidance is integrated in age management strategies. The report offers insights on how to develop guidance activities at the workplace.

Cedefop's report aims to inspire actions and help Member States develop institutional frameworks and incentives to help enterprises devise age management and guidance strategies.

Click here for more information or below for access to the full report.

Active and Healthy Ageing - A European Innovation Partnership

TechnolAGE Final Study Report

The report summarizes the overall findings of the 'Study on business and financing models related to ICT and Ageing well'. It brings together the analysis carried out in the case analysis phase (which described in detail the twenty case studies of viable business or financing models) and the replication and scaling up analytical stage (which consisted in the analysis of the replicability and scalability of 5 of the 20 cases).

Findings from the draft version of this report were shared with stakeholders and the European Commission at the TechnolAGE Final Conference, which took place in Brussels on 14 February 2013. This report therefore incorporates contributions and feedback from stakeholders who attended the event.

OECD - A Good Life in Old Age? Monitoring and improving quality in long-term care

With the ageing populations and growing costs, ensuring and improving the quality of longtermcare (LTC) services has become an important policy priority across OECD countries.The share of those aged 80 years and over is expected to increase from 4% in 2010 to nearly10% in 2050, while in 2010 OECD countries allocated 1.6% of GDP to public spending onLTC, on average. The goal of good quality care is to maintain or, when feasible, to improvethe functional and health outcomes of frail elderly, the chronically ill and the physicallydisabled, whether they receive care in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, communitybasedor home care settings. This report focuses on three aspects generally accepted ascritical to quality care: effectiveness and care safety, patient-centredness and responsiveness andcare co-ordination.

Europeans of retirement age: chronic diseases and economic activity

DG SANCO published the 2012 report about the impact of chronic disease on the population of pre -(50+) and post -retirement age in the EU. This report was prepared by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and addresses the following topics:

The burden of chronic disease in the older population pre- and post-retirement ;

The impact of chronic disease on the exit from the labour market (including unemployment, disability and early retirement) ;

The impact of leaving the labour market on the burden of chronic disease;

Interventions to increase the social participation (including work participation) of people with a chronic disease.

DG CONNECT - eCare Benchmarking. Coping with an ageing population – Learning from good eHealth and telecare practices

This final report is part of the study on 'Coping with an ageing population - Learning from good eHealth and telecare practices' - the eCare Benchmarking study, commissioned by the European Commission, Directorate General Information Society and Media, Brussels. The eCare Benchmarking study has to be seen within the global trend towards population ageing. This unprecedented development has a number of socio-economic side effects which are beginning to exert an influence on the way long-term care is currently provided to older people in Europe and beyond.

House of Lords Committee report - Ready for Ageing?

The report from the House of Lords Committee on Public Service and Demographic Change warns that the Government and our society are woefully underprepared for ageing. The "Ready for Ageing?" report covers a broad range of policy areas, providing a comprehensive analysis of the potential impact of an ageing population on public services.

It concludes that the current British model of health and social care provision has failed to provide older people with adequate care and this situation will worsen in the future due to the upcoming increase of seniors with chronic health conditions. The report also explains how radical changes to health and social care are needed and the Committee calls on the Government to set out a vision and framework so health and social care services progressively change to become much better fitted to meet the needs of an ageing society.

European Commission publishes the brochure 'Active and Healthy Ageing - For you & with you'

'Active and Healthy Ageing - For you & with you' is a new brochure published by the European Commission to highlight the challenges and opportunities of today and tomorrow related to demographic ageing in Europe.

Prepared by the Directorate-General Communication Networks, Content & Technology, within the Digital Agenda for Europe strategy, the brochure presents a selection of EU-funded IT solutions developed to improve the health and quality of live of seniors.

The publication also calls society to be active & proactive towards change and innovation and support healthy ageing smart innovation with ICT technology. 'We are already on the right track by being aware of the ageing challenge and by realizing that change is needed. Technology helps only when we commit to using it', it stresses.

"Long Lasting Memories", "Rosetta", "CommonWell", "CompanionAble", "Dreaming" and "Wiisel" are the solutions presented in the six-page document presented in January 2013.

The Council of the European Union adopts the Guiding Principles for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations

The Council of the European Union adopted on 6th December the Guiding Principles for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, which should serve as a checklist for national authorities and other stakeholders on what needs to be done to promote active ageing beyond the European Year 2012.

Each of the 19 Guiding Principles, jointly agreed by the Social Protection and the Employment Committees, relate to one of the three dimensions of active ageing promoted during the European Year: employment, social participation and independent living.

The Guiding Principles, which are annexed to the Council declaration on the European Year 2012 (17468/12), are not prescriptive. It is a task of national governments, regions, cities, companies, trade unions, civil society organisations and others to make use of them according to their specific situation and challenges. The European Council invited Member States to make healthy ageing across lifecycle one of their priorities, with a social and equity approach. The promotion of strategies aiming at combating risks factors, such as tobacco use, alcohol related harm, illicit drugs, unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity as well as environmental factors are essential.

To access the Council conclusions, click here. To access the Council declaration including the 19 Guiding Principles, click below.

Active Ageing and Quality of Life in Old Age

Societies have a responsibility to invest in conducive frameworks to allow individuals to live and age actively. Such investments can take place in the prevention and health care sectors, in education and labour markets. At the same time, citizens should be able to rely on a supportive infrastructure in case of real need and frailty.

The publication reflects the contribution of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to this debate and paves the way for further elaborations on the issue.

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is a specific joint programme (2008-2013) led in conjunction with Member States, the European Commission and private industry. The results of this combined effort are the approximately 60 on-going projects and the hundreds of people at work, that are working together to contribute and to shape the future of ICT based solutions to support the active and healthy ageing of elderly people. The AAL Association has recently released a brochure which contains a number of projects implemented under the first three thematic calls:

'ICT based solutions for prevention and management of chronic conditions of elderly people'

'ICT based solutions for advancement of social interaction of elderly people'

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